July 20, 2024
Where the new WNBA media rights deal sits among soaring metrics
Do the numbers in the reported deal match the WNBA's considerable growth?
The WNBA has reportedly reached a new media rights agreement. It will add an average of $200 million annually to the revenue line of the WNBA’s balance sheet starting after the 2025 season and through the following 11 years. The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov broke the news on Tuesday.
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The new deal was met with mixed feelings from various stakeholders. Here is a rundown of the metrics announced by the WNBA at the end of the 2023 season, in addition to data from sources such as Statista, to explain where the deal fits within the league’s growth.
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Breaking down the new WNBA media rights deal
The new WNBA media rights deal is worth $2.2 billion over 11 years and involves ESPN, NBC and Amazon. There is still an opportunity for increased earnings: The WNBA is likely to sell two additional packages for $60 million, pushing the total to over $250 million per year.
The deal was negotiated by the NBA, which agreed on a $76 billion deal with Disney (ESPN’s parent company), NBC and Amazon for itself. That’s a whopping $73.8 billion more than the WNBA’s deal.
Because of the WNBA’s ownership structure, players will probably be the ones to see the least of the new money. WNBA owners control only about 42% of the very association they are in. That means the $200 million per year will only be about an $84 million disbursement to the WNBA itself. (For a more detailed explanation, read this story by The Next’s founder and editor-in-chief, Howard Megdal.)
The WNBA’s operating expenses have drastically increased, with about $25 million for chartered flights in addition to an expanded workforce. So it is reasonable to expect that no more than $59 million annually would be directed to franchises (subtracting only the cost of chartered flights).
Player income in the WNBA is determined by pay scales set in the league’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which is negotiated by the player’s association (WNBPA). Unlike in the NBA, athletes in the W do not enjoy a 50/50 revenue-sharing model. Instead, less than 10% of total revenue is designated for talent, resulting in a team salary cap of a little less than $1.38 million.
With the new figures, even with the 10% share, players would still take home higher salaries. Using the expected maximum amount of $59 million annually, each WNBA franchise could receive about $421,428 per year toward roster compensation solely from the media rights deal. That number is calculated by taking 10% of $59 million and dividing that by 14, which is the number of franchises that will compete in 2026.
That said, the $2.2 billion deal is a decent raise, and it could drive maximum player salaries to seven figures alongside other revenue streams, such as corporate partnerships. But is the deal fair?
Did the NBA lowball the WNBA?
“Unprecedented” is an adjective Americans have grown very familiar with since the COVID-19 pandemic. And for women’s sports fans, it has stayed on to describe the boom the industry has experienced in the past four years.
At the end of 2023, the WNBA announced that viewership across ESPN and CBS networks had increased by 21% from 2022. ABC averaged 627,000 viewers, the highest in 11 years, including 36 million unique viewers, the highest since 2008.
The 2023 Draft was the most watched since 2004 (a record that would be steamrolled in 2024). The 2023 WNBA All-Star Game had 850,000 viewers, the most in 16 years.
Attendance rose 16% to 6,615 fans per game, which was the highest since 2018. The All-Star event in Las Vegas saw record merchandise sales and increased fan engagement.
Social media saw a 96% increase in video views. Digital platform engagement grew significantly, with app downloads up 400%. Sports betting activity doubled.
Related reading: How the WNBA really feels about Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark
For comparison, while the WNBA has seen 150% growth since the 2015 season (from 202,000 in 2015 to 505,000 in 2023), the NBA experienced an 11.6% decrease in the same span (1.80 million to 1.59 million, according to Sports Media Watch). 2015 was the year the WNBA and ESPN kicked off the previous media rights cycle.
Both leagues negotiated new deals this year, with the NBA spearheading the negotiations. The NBA got a $76 billion contract over 11 years, whereas the WNBA got a $2.2 billion agreement over the same period.
As mentioned previously, that is a $200 million payout annually for the WNBA. It’s a big bump from the previous $65 million but only 2.9% of what the men will earn.
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In a statement released to select media outlets, including The Next, the WNBPA expressed concern over the deal value.
“We look forward to learning how the NBA arrived at a $200 million valuation — if initial reports are accurate or even close. Neither the NBA nor the WNBA can deny that in the last few years, we have seen unprecedented growth across all metrics,” WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson said. “There is no excuse to undervalue the WNBA again.”
Women’s basketball legend Cheryl Miller had a more pointed reaction at WNBA All-Star Weekend. “That’s a lowball. … Not enough. Not even close,” she told reporters on Friday. “Now, I’m not trying to inflate it a whole lot. But [$2 billion] is nice, and eight would be better. …
“We need tough and fair negotiators and visionaries. And we need a bully. We need a bully behind the table. … There’s a certain number bigger than [$2 billion] that we want.”
Only time will tell whether the NBA maximized this opportunity for the WNBA. The deal hasn’t even been announced yet. One good thing is that the reported agreement has a renegotiation clause for the third year, which could allow WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and the negotiators to further reward players for the visibility they’ve brought to the league.
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